<ftl)e  Resurrection  of  Cljrist  tl)e  Justification  of  illusions 


A SERMON 


PREACHED  AT  THE 


SIXTY-FOURTH  ANNUAL  MEETING 


OF  THE 


AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS 
FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


MINNEAPOLIS,  SEPTEMBER  23,  1873 


BY 

REV.  JULIUS  H.  SEELYE 

PROFESSOR  IN  AMHERST  COLLEGE 


V 


CAMBRIDGE 

$riittc&  at  tfjc  ftitocr^itic 

1873 


SERMON. 


“ And  was  raised  again  for  our  justification.”  Rom.  iv.  25. 

The  resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead  is 
undoubtedly  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament  as  a literal  truth. 
It  is  equally  clear  that  the  New  Testament  writers,  whether  de- 
ceived or  not  themselves,  had  no  intention  of  deceiving  others. 
They  tell  what  they  thought,  at  least,  was  the  truth  about  their 
Lord.  That  he  died  upon  the  cross,  was  buried,  and  rose  again 
the  third  day,  and  appeared  to  many,  the  same  Jesus  which  was 
crucified,  is  now  admitted,  — alike  by  the  most  intelligent  ene- 
mies of  the  gospel,  as  well  as  by  its  friends,  — to  have  been  the 
belief  of  his  original  disciples.  The  most  noted,  and  perhaps 
the  ablest  of  recent  writers  against  the  Christian  faith  — Strauss, 
in  his  “New  Life  of  Jesus”  — fully  allows  “that  the  disciples 
firmly  believed  that  Jesus  had  arisen.”1  He  declares  it  to  be 
“ quite  evident  that  the  origin  of  the  Christian  Church  was  by 
faith  in  the  miraculous  resurrection  of  the  Messiah,  and  that  the 
disciples  received  an  impression  which  lay  at  the  bottom  of  their 
future  ministry,  that  he  was  a conqueror  over  death  and  the 
grave,  and  was  the  Prince  of  Life.”2  The  supposition  that  the 
disciples  fabricated  the  story,  and  sought  to  impose  it  upon  the 
credulity  of  men,  themselves  knowing  it  to  be  false,  may  there- 
fore be  dismissed,  as  no  longer  needing  a reply. 

But  if  the  disciples  believed  what  they  said,  how  could  they 
have  been  mistaken  ? The  evidence  which  wrought  this  belief 
was  of  a sort  easily  tested.  It  lay  in  the  sphere  of  their  most 
common  and  most  undoubted  capacity  of  judging.  It  did  not 
follow  their  preconceived  notions,  for  the  first  announcement  that 
Christ  had  arisen  seemed  to  them  an  idle  tale,  and  they  believed 
it  not.  (Luke  xxiv.  11.)  It  was  not  begotten  of  their  desires 
or  hopes,  for  they  were  utterly  cast  down  by  the  crucifixion,  and 
their  only  dreams  of  the  Messiah  had  been  of  an  earthly  and 
temporal  prince  and  kingdom.  (Luke  xxiv.  21.)  Their  belief 
was  not  sudden,  nor  did  it  grow  rapidly.  They  sifted  all  the  ev- 
idence, which  they  finally  accepted,  only  because  they  found  it 
1 VoL  i.  p.  399.  2 Ibid.  p.  412. 


4 


SERMON. 


irresistible.  During  a period  of  forty  days  from  the  crucifixion, 
Jesus  is  reported  to  have  appeared  to  them,  and  to  others  who 
knew  him  well,  at  times  so  numerous,  and  under  circumstances 
so  various,  that  all  doubts  among  them,  though  they  were  strong 
and  seemed  likely  to  be  persistent,  were  destroyed.  He  ap- 
peared unto  the  eleven  as  they  sat  at  meat,  and  upbraided  them 
with  their  unbelief  and  hardness  of  heart  because  they  believed 
not  them  which  had  seen  him  after  he  was  risen.  (Mark  xxi. 
14.)  In  the  midst  of  their  terror  and  affright  at  an  event  so 
amazing,  he  reassured  them  by  the  most  palpable  proof  of  his 
living  and  bodily  presence  w^th  them.  “ Behold  my  hands  and 
my  feet,”  he  said,  “ that  it  is  I myself : handle  me,  and  see ; for 
a spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones,  as  ye  see  me  have.  And 
when  he  had  thus  spoken,  he  showed  them  his  hands  and  his 
feet.”  (Luke  xxiv.  39,  40.)  To  the  doubting  Thomas  he  said  : 
“ Reach  hither  thy  finger,  and  behold  my  hands  ; and  reach 
hither  thy  hand,  and  thrust  it  into  my  side ; and  be  not 
faithless,  but  believing.”  (John  xx.  27.)  He  is  said  to  have 
shown  himself  alive  after  his  passion  by  many  infallible  proofs, 
being  seen  of  them  forty  days,  and  speaking  of  the  things 
pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  (Acts  i.  3.)  The  Apos- 
tles became  convinced  of  the  great  truth  slowly,  and  they  all 
became  convinced  of  it  in  the  same  degree  of  undoubting  con- 
fidence. No  one  of  them,  though  persecuted,  and  at  length 
martyred  for  his  faith,  ever  afterwards  doubted  that  his  crucified 
Lord,  in  very  deed  and  truth,  had  risen  from  the  dead.  More- 
over others  believed  the  same  thing.  Paul,  writing  to  the  Corin- 
thian church,  some  twenty-five  years  afterwards,  refers  to  five 
hundred  witnesses  by  whom  the  living  Lord  was  seen  at  once, 
the  greater  part  of  whom,  he  says,  remain  unto  this  present  — 
remain  as  vouchers  for  the  fact.  Now  this  belief,  thus  honestly 
and  confidently  held,  and  by  such  large  numbers  of  those  most 
competent  to  judge  respecting  it,  is  unaccountable  on  any  other 
supposition  than  that  it  was  justified  by  the  truth.  To  suppose 
that  Jesus  did  not  die,  but  only  swooned  upon  the  cross,  and 
that  he  was  laid  in  the  tomb  in  a state  of  unconsciousness,  from 
which  he  afterwards  revived,  and  then  came  forth  and  reappeared 
to  his  disciples  in  his  natural  life,  rouses  far  more  difficult  ques- 
tions than  it  answers,  and  though  once  gravely  put  forth,  is  now 
ridiculed  even  by  those  who  disbelieve  in  a miraculous  resurrec- 
tion. For  how  could  he  come  forth  ? and  what  became  of  him 


SERMON. 


5 


afterwards  ? and  how  could  such  a person,  weak  as  he  must  have 
been,  have  given  his  disciples  their  undoubting  conviction  that 
he  was  the  conqueror  of  death  ? To  suppose  that  any  one  should 
have  succeeded,  even  should  any  one  have  attempted  to  personate 
to  the  disciples  their  Master  and  friend,  whom  they  had  known 
and  loved  and  companied  with  so  intimately  and  so  long,  would 
be  an  improbability  more  wonderful  by  far  than  the  literal  truth 
of  the  story  which  they  relate.  Such  a deception  would  require 
a miracle.  It  is  just  as  improbable  that  all  the  disciples  could 
have  come  to  believe,  by  a sort  of  hallucination,  through  nervous 
excitement,  in  some  unreal  vision  of  Christ’s  appearance.1  Such 
a vision  might  come  to  a single  person.  Individuals  are  liable 
to  hallucinations,  which  carry  with  them  all  the  force  of  reality, 
but  this  is  never  the  case  with  a class  possessing  such  different 
temperaments  as  the  Apostles,  and  having  naturally  such  differ- 
ent ways  of  looking  at  anything.  Physiology  puts  its  inexora- 
ble bar  in  the  way  of  a theory  which  attempts  to  account  for 
the  same  conviction  in  the  sanguine  Peter,  and  the  choleric  Paul, 
and  the  melancholic  John,  through  nervous  excitement.  Ner- 
vous excitement  in  men  so  different,  if  we  could  conceive  it  to  be 
able  to  delude  them  all  with  subjective  states  which  had  no  reality, 
would  have  not  the  same,  but  very  different  manifestations.  The 
Apostles,  however,  had  all  of  them  the  same  belief  that  Jesus  rose 
from  the  dead.  They  all  believed  that  they  had  seen  him,  and 
talked  with  him,  and  touched  him  again  and  again,  after  they 
had  seen  him  crucified,  and  dead  and  buried.  Instead  of  being 
formed  out  of  their  subjective  states,  this  belief,  as  we  have  seen, 
contradicted  all  their  prejudices.  Still  farther,  if  they  were  all 
so  ready  to  be  imposed  upon  by  fancied  visions,  how  was  it  that 
they  held  the  first  announcement  of  the  resurrection  by  the 
women  to  be  an  idle  tale,  or  how  could  Mary  believe  that  the 
risen  Saviour  was  the  gardener,  or  again  that  the  gardener  was 
the  risen  Saviour  ; or,  how  could  the  two  who  walked  with  him 
to  Emmaus  take  an  unknown  man  to  be  him,  or  talk  so  long 
with  him,  and  still  think  him  a stranger  ; or,  how  could  the 
assembled  disciples  have  trembled  before  him,  instead  of  rejoic- 
ing at  his  appearance  ; or,  how  could  they  have  needed  to  be 
convinced  of  the  reality  of  his  resurrection,  by  his  partaking  of 
their  meal  and  showing  them  the  marks  of  his  wounds?2  No, 
no.  There  are  no  traces  of  delusion,  any  more  than  of  dishonesty 

1 Strauss.  2 Lange,  Life  of  Christ,  vol.  v.  p.  120. 


6 


SERMON. 


in  this  narrative.  The  accounts  given  us  are  sober  statements, 
by  sober  and  trustworthy  men.  If  ever  there  was  clear  and 
credible  testimony  to  a literal  fact,  we  have  it  here. 

But  there  are  many  men  unwilling,  and,  perhaps,  unable  to 
weigh  considerately  the  argument  for  the  truth  of  Christ’s  res- 
urrection, having  the  preconceived  opinion  that  it  cannot  be 
true  because  of  the  miracle  which  it  involves.  It  is  one  of  the 
curious  phases  of  modern  opinion  that  men  who  are  foremost  in 
their  demand  for  actual  facts,  and  in  their  defense  of  the  Baco- 
nian method,  which  requires  that  all  prejudices  be  removed,  and 
the  actual  facts  of  observation  be  accepted  whatever  they  may 
be,  should  also,  when  the  fact  of  a miracle  is  in  question,  be 
equally  forward  to  deny  it,  because  a certain  theory  of  nature 
which  they  have  come  to  entertain,  makes  a miracle  impossible. 
Now,  such  a theory  not  only  contradicts  the  true  method  of  sci- 
entific inquiry,  but  it  contradicts  itself,  as  can  be  seen  by  any 
one  whose  eyes  are  clear.  For,  to  say  that  a miracle  is  impos- 
sible because  contrary  to  the  facts  of  my  experience,  is  absurd, 
unless  the  facts  of  my  experience  embrace  all  the  possible  facts 
of  any  experience  ; to  claim  which  would  be  a greater  absurdity 
still.  Again,  to  say  that  no  such  fact  as  a miracle  can  be,  be- 
cause certain  other  facts  which  I have  learned  from  this  source 
and  that,  and  which  I am  pleased  to  call  “ the  order  of  nature,” 
forbids  it,  leads  one  to  ask  for  a more  precise  designation  of 
this  order  of  nature,  and  for  the  proof  that  it  actually  exists. 
This  proof  must  either  rest  within  or  must  reach  beyond  the 
field  of  our  experience  ; that  is,  it  must  be  a proof  to  which  our 
experience  actually  testifies,  or  one  respecting  which  our  expe- 
rience has  no  witness  whatever.  But  our  experience,  at  the 
farthest,  only  testifies  to  that  which  is,  and  never  reaches  to  that 
which  can  be.  If  my  experience  contain  nothing  miraculous,  I 
may,  of  course,  deny  the  existence  of  a miracle  so  far  as  my  ex- 
perience reaches  ; and  if  my  judgments  rest  only  on  what  I 
have  experienced,  that  is,  if  they  be  only  inferences  from  what 
I actually  see,  I am  not  entitled  to  make  any  affirmations  re- 
specting what  lies  beyond,  and  that  a miracle  has  not  taken 
place  in  another  experience  than  my  own,  is  quite  out  of  my 
province  to  say.  The  moment  I make  such  a sweeping  asser- 
tion as  to  affirm  or  deny  anything  universal,  I must  leave  the 
ground  of  my  experience,  which  is  necessarily  partial  and  lim- 
ited, and  take  my  stand  on  a basis  back  of  experience  and  reach- 


SEX  MON. 


7 


ing  beyond  it.  But  such  a groundwork  lies  also  back  of  nature, 
and  inevitably  leads  the  thought  into  the  living  presence  of  the 
supernatural.  Our  natural  science  is  fond  of  its  generalizations, 
but  no  generalization  is  possible  without  the  supernatural.  It  is 
an  unmeaning  babble  to  talk  of  comprehensive  laws  unless  there 
be  a comprehending  Reason  and  Will  whose  ideas  and  plans 
these  laws  express.  The  current  notion,  in  some  quarters,  that 
we  can  gain,  or  have  perchance  got  such  universal  conclusions 
that  nature  can  be  shut  in  upon  itself,  and  God  shut  out,  is  ex- 
actly the  absurdity  of  supposing  that  we  see  when  we  have 
closed  our  eyes  and  turned  the  very  light  of  all  our  seeing  into 
darkness.  Every  process  of  the  human  mind  bears  witness  to 
the  Divine  Mind.  Every  thought  we  can  have  of  nature,  when 
profoundly  questioned,  is  seen  to  rest  upon  the  knowledge,  un- 
doubting and  universal,  that  nature  has  its  living  author,  its 
spiritual  Creator.  But  cannot  he  who  has  made  nature  also 
unmake  it  if  he  will,  or  order  in  it  'whatever  changes  he  may 
please  ? And  if  men  who  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their 
thoughts,  professing  themselves  to  be  wise  became  fools,  because 
that  when  they  knew  God,  they  glorified  him  not  as  God,  neither 
were  thankful,  but  became  vain  in  their  imaginations,  and  their 
foolish  hearts  were  darkened,  what  is  to  hinder  him,  if  his  love 
impels  it,  from  making  such  changes  in  nature  as  shall  more 
conspicuously  manifest  himself,  and  more  gloriously  carry  for- 
ward the  eternal  purpose  for  which  he  hath  created  all  things  by 
Jesus  Christ  ? Such  changes  are  miracles.  They  are  not  con- 
tradictions to  nature,  but  they  are  the  carrying  of  nature  upward 
to  a higher  plane,  and  onward  to  grander  results  than  nature  in 
its  unhindered  action  alone  could  reach.  They  are  not  to  be 
considered  as  violations  of  the  order  of  nature  ; rather  are  they 
the  cropping  out  in  nature  of  the  higher  order  of  the  supernatu- 
ral, without  which  the  so-called  order  of  nature  would  be  but  an 
empty  chaos  ; they  are  rifts  in  the  clouds  of  the  earth’s  atmos- 
phere, through  which  the  glories  of  the  heavens,  which  make 
the  clouds  resplendent  and  the  earth  radiant,  can  shine.  They 
are  not  the  new  development  of  some  old  force  which  had  been 
in  nature  from  the  beginning,  but  they  are  a new  creation  by 
which  new  forces,  henceforth  to  work  on  in  harmony  with  the 
old,  are  added  to  these.  Surely  such  changes  are  possible  for 
God  to  make.  Surely,  he  who  hath  created  once,  can  do  it 
also  again.  Surely,  if  the  inspiration  of  genius  may  sometimes 


8 


SERMON. 


light  up  the  human  face  with  a glow  which  shows  the  glory  of 
the  soul  beyond  all  ordinary  thoughts  ; if  the  light  of  love  may 
sometimes  lend  a lustre  to  the  eye  through  which  there  shines  a 
look  of  beauty  before  unknown,  — much  more  may  the  aspect 
of  the  things  which  are  made,  in  which  the  eternal  power  and 
Godhead  of  their  Maker  have,  from  the  creation  of  the  world, 
been  clearly  seen,  take  on  some  altogether  new  expression,  and 
become  radiant  with  a glory  all  undiscovered  before,  when  he 
would  reveal  through  them  also  his  forgiving  and  renewing  love. 
Surely,  all  this  is  possible,  and  miracles,  instead  of  being  irra- 
tional, and  inconceivable,  are  the  very  beauty  of  reason  and  the 
very  light  of  our  thoughts  respecting  nature,  when  they  are  cor- 
rectly apprehended.  Creation  itself  is  a miracle.  The  most 
recent  science,  in  profound  mathematical  demonstrations,  re- 
specting the  mechanical  theory  of  heat,  has  shown,  on  scientific 
grounds  alone,  the  need  of  some  higher  power  than  nature,  in 
order  to  its  origination,  and  therefore  miracles  cannot  be  impos- 
sible at  any  stage  of  nature’s  continuance. 

The  only  proper  attitude  towards  this  question,  and  the  only 
truly  scientific  method,  is  to  inquire  whether  such  occurrences 
have  actually  taken  place  ; an  inquiry  whose  answer  is  only  to 
be  gained  through  a careful  sifting  of  the  evidence  which  de- 
clares them.  If  we  find  wonders  reported  which  turn  out  to  be 
no  miracles,  but  only  delusions  of  witchcraft  or  magic,  these  no 
more  militate  against  the  reality  of  miracles  than  does  an  abun- 
dance of  counterfeits  against  the  reality  o*f  genuine  coin.  If  we 
find  some  miracles  reported  for  which  the  evidence  fails,  this  no 
more  precludes  our  finding  others  of  undoubted  verity  than  do 
false  statements  in  other  matters  prevent  us  from  learning  any- 
thing true.  Let  the  quality  of  the  reported  miracle  and  its  evi- 
dence be  sifted  to  the  utmost,  and  while  we  reject  nothing  from 
preconceived  skepticism,  let  nothing  be  taken  in  credulous  super- 
stition. Let  the  eye  be  open  and  clear,  and  the  heart  receptive 
and  responsive  only  to  the  truth,  and  if  miracles  are  proved  by 
sufficient  testimony  to  have  taken  place,  the  wise  man  will  ac- 
cept them,  and  follow  their  conclusions,  whatever  they  may  be. 
v., Setting  aside  then,  as  we  should,  all  our  prejudices  and  nar- 
row notions,  and  looking  for  the  true  fact  alone,  with  a single 
willingness  to  receive  it,  the  evidence  for  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  becomes  overwhelming.  It  has  been  so  from  the  first. 
It  convinced  the  Apostles,  though  prejudiced  against  it  and  re- 


SERMON. 


9 


ceiving  it  very  slowly,  and  they  maintained  their  faith  through 
ignominy  and  persecution,  and  in  the  face  of  death  itself.  It 
convinced  the  people  to  whom  it  was  first  preached,  and  who 
had  every  opportunity  to  test  its  truth.  The  proof  is  clear  be- 
yond all  doubt,  that  the  resurrection  of  Christ  was  believed  in 
Jerusalem  itself,  by  thousands  who  had  probably  seen  and  cer- 
tainly knew  of  his  crucifixion,  and  who  were  led  to  believe  that 
he  had  risen  from  the  dead  by  the  irresistible  evidence  with 
which  the  fact  was  attested.  It  has  convinced  candid  and 
thoughtful  men  in  all  subsequent  time  wherever  the  evidence 
has  been  examined,  and  no  prejudices  have  been  allowed  to 
weaken  its  force.  There  is  no  historical  fact  whose  literal 
truth  is  more  thoroughly  established  than  this. 

i.  The  place  which  this  truth  holds  in  the  scheme  of  Christian 
doctrine  is  very  clear.  The  resurrection  of  Christ  was  a divine 
seal  set  upon  his  work.  It  was  the  divine  confirmation  of  all 
his  words.  He  was  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power, 
according  to  the  spirit  of  holiness,  by  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead.  The  declaration  of  his  Messiahship  is  accomplished  in 
his  resurrection.  The  promise  which  was  made  unto  the  fathers, 
says  Paul,  that  is,  the  promise  of  the  Messiah,  — “ God  hath  ful- 
filled unto  us  their  children  in  that  he  raised  up  Jesus  again,  as 
it  is  also  written  in  the  second  Psalm : Thou  art  my  Son,  this 
day  I have  begotten  thee.”  In  his  incarnation  and  life  upon  the 
earth,  there  is  the  manifested  presence  of  God,  condescending 
to  dwell  with  man.  In  his  miracles,  in  his  teachings,  in  his  suf- 
ferings and  in  his  death,  the  Divine  power  and  wisdom  and 
righteousness  and  love  shine  all  gloriously.  In  them  all  there 
stands  revealed  Immanuel,  God  with  us,  cheering  and  strength- 
ening us  by  his  sympathy  and  manifold  bounty,  but  humbling 
us  also  as  he  makes  manifest  our  defilement  by  the  revelation  of 
his  purity  and  condescension  and  self-forgetting  love.  But  in 
his  resurrection  we  come  to  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who,  though  he  was  rich,  became  poor,  that  we,  through 
his  poverty,  might  become  rich.  It  is  not  simply  God  dwelling 
with  man,  but  man  lifted  to  an  eternal  fellowship  with  God,  which 
we  here  behold.  In  his  life,  even  to  his  death,  there  is  a con- 
stant conflict  waged  for  us  against  foes  aiming  at  our  destruc- 
tion, and  whose  destroying  fury  we  had  no  means  to  restrain  ; 
but  whether  the  conflict  is  of  any  avail  for  us  — whether  he 
is  victorious  or  vanquished  at  its  close,  who  can  tell  ? The 


IO 


SERMON. 


darkened  sun,  and  quaking  earth,  and  rending  rocks  tell  the  ter- 
rors of  the  struggle  and  its  awful  import,  but  when  he  dies  upon 
the  Cross,  who,  afterwards,  can  speak  of  life  or  salvation  ? Can 
he  save  others  when  himself  he  cannot  save  ? But  when  it  was 
not  possible  for  him  to  be  holden  of  death  ; when  he  rises  from 
the  dead,  death  having  no  more  dominion  over  him,  we  rise  with 
him  also  victorious  over  death,  and  the  believer  in  Jesus  makes 
the  triumphant  challenge  : Who  is  he  that  condemneth,  since 
Christ  who  has  died  is  rather  risen  again,  who  is  even  at  the 
right  hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh  intercession  for  us  ? O 
death,  where  is  thy  sting  ? O grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ? 
Thanks  be  unto  God  who  givetli  us  the  victory  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

In  his  death  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him,  but 
without  his  resurrection  who  could  ever  know  that  with  his 
stripes  we  are  healed  ? He  died  for  sinners,  whose  curse  he 
bore.  He  rose  again  for  sinners,  whose  justification  he  has  now 
become.  In  his  crucifixion,  he  in  whom  was  no  sin  was  made 
sin  for  us  ; but  through  his  resurrection  we,  in  whom  is  no  right- 
eousness, find  righteousness  in  him.  “ For  we  believe  in  Him 
who  raised  up  Jesus  our  Lord  from  the  dead,  who  was  delivered 
for  our  offenses,  and  was  raised  again  for  our  justification.’’ 

2.  The  ascendency  which  this  truth  was  able  to  gain  over  the 
lives  x>f  the  Apostles  illustrates  the  impulse  which  it  ever  gives 
to  Christian  activity  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
When  Christ  was  apprehended,  they  were  terror-stricken,  and 
they  all  forsook  him  and  fled.  When  he  was  put  to  death,  they 
were  appalled.  But  there  never  was  a bolder  set  of  men  than 
these  same  timid  disciples,  after  they  began  to  preach  the  resur- 
rection of  their  Master.  All  their  timidity  and  irresolution  dis- 
appear. Their  dismay  gives  place  to  a joyous  exultation.  Scorn, 
hatred,  persecution,  martyrdom  have  no  terrors  for  them  now. 
These  men  who  seemed  settling  down  into  the  night  of  an  un- 
broken despondency,  now  stand  out  in  the  noon-tide  of  all  cour- 
age and  hope  and  endurance,  ready  to  face  any  difficulty,  and 
flinch  at  no  dangers.  This  great  change  was  wrought  in  them 
wholly  by  the  belief  that  Jesus,  their  Lord,  was  risen  from  the 
dead.  This  belief  all  absorbs  them.  They  can  talk  and  think 
of  nothing  else.  They  begin  to  preach,  and  their  one  topic  is 
Jesus  and  his  resurrection.  He  died  and  he  rose  again,  they 
everywhere  proclaim.  All  their  views  of  Christ  and  his  doc- 


SERMON. 


1 1 

trine  take  tone  from  this  belief.  Their  narrow  notion  of  the 
Messiah  who  was  to  restore  again  the  kingdom  to  Israel,  drops 
oft'  like  the  hull  from  the  germinating  seed,  while,  with  a living 
power,  the  doctrine  grows  to  an  all-comprehending  vision  of  the 
Redeemer  and  Saviour  of  mankind,  in  whom  we  have  redemp- 
tion through  his  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  The 
mourner  in  Gethsemane,  and  the  martyr  upon  Calvary,  by  his 
resurrection,  rises  before  them,  no  longer  a sufferer  or  a victim, 
but  as  the  Lord  of  life,  who  hath  tasted  death  for  every  man. 
and  who,  for  the  suffering  of  death,  is  crowned  with  glory  and 
honor.  They  gain  their  hope  of  eternal  life  through  his  resur- 
rection. Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  they  say,  which  according  to  his  abundant  mercy  hath 
begotten  us  again  unto  a lively  hope,  by  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead.  They  rest  everything  upon  this 
great  truth.  If  Christ  be  not  risen,  they  say,  then  is  our  preach- 
ing vain,  and  your  faith  is  also  vain. 

He  was  raised  again  for  our  justification  ! The  resurrection 
of  Christ,  my  brethren,  has  a farther  influence  upon  us  than 
simply  to  secure  our  personal  acceptance  with  God.  We  have 
seen  that  to  the  Apostles  it  became  a living  inspiration  to  the 
highest  activity  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  of  their  Lord. 
If  truly  apprehended  it  will  become  the  same  to  us.  It  was  the 
risen  Lord  who  gave  the  great  commission  to  his  disciples  : Go 
ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  unto  every  creature, 
— and  the  perpetual  justification  and  inspiration  for  this  grand 
work  is,  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again.  It  is  the  risen  and  ever 
living  Lord  who  is  with  his  disciples  alway,  even  unto  the  end 
of  the  world,  giving  them  all  power  to  preach  repentance  and 
remission  of  sins  through  his  name,  among  all  nations. 

All  the  meditation  we  can  give  upon  the  crucifixion  of  Christ 
furnishes  food  for  the  spiritual  life.  We  need  not  cease  to  con- 
template the  cross.  We  should  think  often  of  Gethsemane  and 
Calvary,  the  bloody  sweat,  and  bitter  shame,  and  cruel  death  ; 
and  should  grow  in  penitence  and  humbleness  and  love,  when 
we  remember  why  it  is  that  he  who  was  so  rich  became  so  poor. 
But  it  is  not  the  highest  type  of  the  Christian  experience  that 
lingers  always  at  the  cross.  He  who  was  delivered  for  our  of- 
fenses was  raised  again  for  our  justification.  The  open  sepul- 
chre that  he  has  left,  the  preaching  of  the  angels  that  he  has 
risen  from  the  dead,  and  the  showing  of  himself  to  his  disciples, 


12 


SERMON. 


whom  he  constituted  the  witnesses  of  his  resurrection,  and  com- 
missioned to  declare  it  to  his  Church,  — this  is  the  cheering 
truth  by  which  we  gain  the  answer  of  a good  conscience  towards 
God,  and  become  able  to  walk  in  newness  of  life,  knowing  that 
if  we  were  planted  together  in  the  likeness  of  his  death,  we  shall 
be  also  in  the  likeness  of  his  resurrection. 

In  like  manner  we  are  in  no  danger  of  holding  up  too  promi- 
nently before  the  world  the  atoning  sacrifice  and  death  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  banner  of  the  Captain  of  our  salvation 
is  the  banner  of  the  cross.  But  he  who  leads  the  hosts  of  his 
elect  in  their  triumphant  progress,  and  who  gives  them  all  the 
strength  for  the  struggle  and  the  victor}',  is  the  risen  Saviour, 
the  Lord,  their  righteousness  ; no  longer  in  his  humiliation,  but 
now  glorified,  with  all  power  given  unto  him  in  heaven  and  in 
earth,  and  who  is  with  his  disciples  as  they  fulfill  his  great  com- 
mission, alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.  The  resur- 
rection of  Christ,  which  turned  the  sorrows  of  his  first  disciples 
into  joy,  is  the  perpetual  witness  of  his  all-victorious  power. 
Though  when  we  look  upon  the  world,  its  sin  and  wretchedness 
are  so  dark  and  terrible  and  wide-reaching,  that  there  seems  no 
room  for  hope,  and  thoughtful  and  loving  souls,  brooding  over 
the  ills  around  them,  give  up  all  for  lost,  yet  when  the  vision  of 
the  victorious  Redeemer  rises  upon  us,  and  we  see  the  com- 
pleteness of  his  conquest  over  sin  and  death  and  the  grave,  the 
greatness  of  his  purpose,  and  the  glory  of  his  power  to  save, 
shine  all  resplendent,  and  the  sorrow  which  abideth  for  a night 
gives  place  to  the  joy  which  cometh  in  the  morning.  The  light 
which  shines  from  his  sepulchre  drives  away  the  darkness  which 
hung  around  his  cross,  while  the  cross  becomes  luminous  with  a 
glory  which  can  irradiate  the  world. 

When  we  see  his  resurrection,  we  learn  also  how  it  is  that  his 
crucifixion  becomes  the  crisis  of  the  world’s  history,  that  his 
cross  becomes  his  throne,  before  which  and  by  which,  the  prince 
of  this  world  is  cast  out,  and  with  believing  hope  we  hear  and 
echo  his  exulting  cry : “ And  I,  if  I be  lifted  up  from  the  earth, 
will  draw  all  men  unto  me.” 

This  gospel  of  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord  needs  to  be 
preached  everywhere,  not  only  as  an  encouragement  and  inspi- 
ration to  the  activity  of  his  Church,  but  as  a corrective  to  all  the 
false  views  of  the  world  regarding  him.  The  literal  truth  of  his 
resurrection  as  an  historical  fact  which  courts  every  scrutiny 


SERMON. 


13 


and  defies  all  criticism,  has  a power,  when  clearly  set  forth,  to 
remove  all  skepticism  of  the  intellect  ; and  from  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost till  now,  its  preaching  has  been  accompanied  by  that 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  can  overcome  the  deeper  skepti- 
cism of  the  will.  While  the  gospel,  when  correctly  apprehended, 
commends  itself  to  every  man’s  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God  ; 
while  every  Christian  truth,  when  clearly  stated^  will  be  seen  to 
carry  its  own  witness  within  itself  to  the  truth,  — so  deeply  do 
God’s  ways  correspond  in  the  human  soul,  made  in  God’s  like- 
ness, to  its  own  original  insight  of  him  ; yet  the  power  of  sin 
is  so  subtle,  and  the  will  has  such  sophistries  of  its  own  where- 
with to  entangle  and  hoodwink  the  intellect,  that  we  need  con- 
tinually to  appeal,  in  attestation  of  the  doctrine,  to  outward  facts 
which  the  senses  can  apprehend,  as  Leverrier  and  Adams  needed 
the  actual  discovery  of  the  new  planet,  in  order  to  prove  the 
value  of  their  calculations  to  others,  if  not  also  to  confirm  them 
to  themselves. 

Moreover,  a clear  view  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  as  an  his- 
torical truth,  is  necessary  to  a clear  knowledge  of  redemption. 
The  fall  of  man  is  an  historical  fact.  Sin  has  entered  the  human 
race  and  penetrated  its  whole  history  with  death.  Redemption 
from  sin,  if  ever  accomplished,  must  be  just  as  actual  a fact  of 
history  as  is  sin  itself.  He  who  is  to  redeem  us  from  sin  must 
actually  stand  in  our  place  and  be  wounded  for  our  transgres- 
sions, and  be  bruised  for  our  iniquities,  and  the  chastisement  of 
our  peace  must  be  upon  him  before  we  can  be  healed.  All  we, 
like  sheep,  have  gone  astray,  and  there  must  be  laid  upon  him 
the  iniquity  of  us  all,  before  it  can  be  lifted  from  ourselves.  He 
who  is  to  deliver  us  from  the  power  of  death  must  break  that 
power,  through  his  own  victorious  deliverance  ; and  he  who  is  to 
be  our  eternal  life  must  show  himself  to  us  the  Prince  of  Life, 
through  his  actual  triumph  over  death  and  the  grave.  However 
ideally  perfect  a system  of  salvation  might  be  conceived  to  be, 
unless  it  should  find  expression  in  such  actual  facts  as  these,  it 
must  be  powerless  to  save.  It  is  thus  that  philosophy  must  ever 
prove  itself  inadequate  for  salvation,  and  that  any  education  or 
culture,  however  extended,  will  always  lack  power  to  purify  or 
give  life  to  the  world. 

Man,  as  a personal  sinner,  needs  a personal  Saviour.  No 
thought,  no  system  of  doctrine,  no  enlightenment  of  the  in- 
tellect, will  ever  break  the  bondage  of  the  will  to  sin.  We 


14 


SERMOiV. 


only  get  liberty  and  life  through  love  ; but  no  description  of 
love  ever  inspires  us  with  love,  any  more  than  we  can  find 
warmth  from  all  our  knowledge  of  the  sunlight.  The  warm 
ray  alone  can  warm  us  ; the  loving  deed  alone  can  give  us  love. 
The  glory  of  the  risen  Saviour  can  melt  all  the  stubbornness  of 
the  frozen  heart,  and  the  power  of  his  life  in  his  conquest  of 
death,  if  everywhere  preached,  would  give  light  and  life  to  all 
the  world. 

If  Christ  be  not  risen,  then  is  our  preaching  vain,  and  your 
faith  is  also  vain.  But  now  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead  and 
become  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept,  and  he  must  reign  till 
he  hath  put  all  enemies  under  his  feet. 

Oh,  my  brethren,  what  a kindling  impulse  to  all  missionary 
efforts  have  we  here  ! What  courage,  what  fortitude,  what  high 
hopes,  what  wide  reaching  plans,  what  earnest  and  increasing 
endeavor,  what  an  undying  impulse  to  evangelize  the  world,  does 
the  resurrection  of  our  Lord  incite  in  his  Church  ! Who  that 
has  any  living  view  of  this  great  truth  ; who  that  has  felt  its 
power  in  his  own  forgiveness  and  renewal  and  eternal  life,  can 
be  slow  of  effort,  or  of  weak  desire  in  preaching  the  gospel  of  a 
risen  Saviour  unto  every  creature  ? We  are  not  ashamed  of 
this  gospel  of  Christ,  for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation 
to  every  one  that  believeth.  We  have  no  tame  apologies  begot- 
ten of  timid  belief,  as  we  point  perishing  men  to  a dying  and 
risen  Saviour.  We  have  no  abatement  to  make  from  the  super- 
natural and  miraculous  claims  of  this  gospel  to  the  intellectual 
assent  of  a scornful  and  skeptical  world.  To  all  the  forms  of 
unbelief  rife  in  Christian  lands  we  proclaim  a gospel  with  suffi- 
cient proof,  which  is  cogent  both  to  convince  the  understanding 
and  to  convert  the  heart.  Here  is  a truth  also,  which,  clearly 
preached,  can  dispel  the  error  with  which  the  unrenewed  heart  de- 
ceives itself  when  it  seeks  its  salvation  through  meritorious  works 
of  its  own.  He  who  beholds  the  all  sufficient  work  of  the  risen 
Redeemer  can  feel  the  need  of  nothing  more,  and  must  feel  the 
fruitlessness  of  anything  less.  Who  can  go  about  to  establish 
his  own  righteousness,  that  has  once  discerned  and  submitted  to 
this  righteousness  of  God  ? Here  also  is  a truth  which,  from  its 
first  proclamation,  has  ever  shown  itself  mighty  to  the  pulling 
down  of  the  strongholds  of  superstition  in  unchristian  lands. 
The  cold  and  blind  and  arbitrary  will,  without  justice  and  with- 
out love,  which  the  followers  of  the  false  prophet  declare  to  be 


SERMON. 


15 

the  only  God  ; the  vague  and  impersonal  essence,  empty  of 
thought,  and  unmoved  by  feeling,  into  whose  limitless  and  un- 
conscious void  the  Brahmin  hopes  to  be  absorbed  ; the  helpless 
and  hopeless  presence  through  whose  repeated  incarnations  the 
Buddhist  is  taught  that  existence  is  only  a curse,  and  that  anni- 
hilation is  the  only  salvation  ; the  ruder  and  cruder  forms  of  un- 
tutored faith,  where  people  of  appalling  wretchedness  and  degra- 
dation find  objects  of  worship  which  take  on  the  shape  of  their 
own  defilement ; all  systems  of  false  religion,  which  nevertheless 
in  their  way  may  be  seeking  the  Lord,  if  haply  they  might  feel 
after  and  find  him,  can  only  be  banished  from  the  world,  can 
only  lose  their  hold  upon  the  mind  by  the  truth  of  a living  and 
loving  Divine  Lord,  who,  having  taken  upon  himself  their  na- 
ture, and  manifested  himself  by  Divine  works  and  words,  as  God 
actually  present  with  men,  and  having  taught  men  by  his  life 
the  glory  of  the  Divine  purity  and  sympathy  and  condescending 
grace,  showed  them  also  by  his  death  the  wonders  of  a Divine 
sacrifice  for  sin,  and  then  made  manifest  by  his  resurrection  from 
the  dead  that  there  needs  no  other  sacrifice.  The  entrance  of 
this  truth  giveth  light  ; it  giveth  understanding  unto  the  simple. 
Before  its  coming  the  shadows  flee,  as  the  night  before  the 
morning. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  darkness  which  still  rests  upon  the 
world,  the  news  of  the  great  salvation  is  steadily  extending. 
Within  the  last  fifty  years,  there  have  been  opened,  outside  of 
nominal  Christendom,  more  than  four  thousand  centres  of  Chris- 
tian influence  from  which  the  light  of  the  gospel  shines.  Dark 
places  of  the  earth,  which  were  full  of  the  habitations  of  cruelty, 
have  become  homes  of  light  and  peace  and  joy,  through  the  sav- 
ing power  of  that  godliness  which  hath  the  promise  of  the  life 
that  now  is,  as  well  as  of  that  which  is  to  come.  The  weight  of 
the  world’s  conversion  rests  upon  the  Church,  and  inspires  a 
missionary  zeal,  and  leads  to  efforts  more  abundant  and  more 
fruitful  at  the  present  day,  than  ever  before.  But  it  is  not  upon 
this  that  we  base  our  hope  of  the  world’s  conversion.  Some 
trust  in  chariots,  and  some  in  horses,  but  we  will  remember  the 
name  of  the  Lord  our  God.  The  promise  of  God  made  unto 
the  fathers,  and  which  he  fulfilled  in  that  he  raised  up  Christ 
from  the  dead,  is  our  sure  reliance.  We  trust  that  promise. 
We  know  in  whom  we  have  believed,  and  are  sure  that  he  is 
able  to  keep  what  is  committed  to  his  hands.  His  resurrection, 


i6 


SERMON. 


by  which  he  is  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  proves 
that  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  become  the  kingdom  of 
our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ,  and  that  he  shall  reign  forever  and 
ever.  All  kings  shall  fall  down  before  him,  yea,  all  nations  shall 
serve  him. 

In  the  great  work  of  seeking  to  hasten  this  blessed  consumma- 
tion, we  bow  before  our  risen  and  ascended  Redeemer,  exclaim- 
ing : Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped  us,  and  henceforth  our  trust 
shall  be  only  in  him.  May  he  pour  upon  us  his  blessed  spirit 
that  we  may  know  more  of  him  and  the  power  of  his  resurrec- 
tion ! We  acknowledge  our  dependence  upon  his  right  arm 
which  hath  gotten  for  itself  the  victory.  We  abandon  all  re- 
liance upon  devices  or  achievements  of  our  own.  But  with  in- 
creasing hope  in  him,  through  the  increasing  faith  which  he 
permits  us  to  cherish  in  his  victorious  power,  we  joyfully  go  for- 
ward as  workers  together  with  him,  and  call  upon  all  the  world 
to  receive  his  great  salvation.  We  need  not  speak  of  duty  here, 
but  of  life  and  joy,  and  blessed  communion  with  our  Lord  in  his 
glorious  work.  His  language  to  his  disciples  is  : “ Henceforth  I 
call  you  not  servants  ; for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his 
Lord  doeth  : but  I have  called  you  friends  ; for  all  things  that  I 
have  heard  of  my  Father  I have  made  known  unto  you.”  We 
know  what  his  purpose  is,  and  that  nothing  shall  swerve  him 
from  its  full  accomplishment.  All  power  is  given  unto  him  in 
heaven  and  in  earth,  and  his  purpose  cannot  fail.  He  is  the 
Saviour  of  sinners  and  the  life  of  the  world,  for  he  was  delivered 
for  our  offenses  and  was  raised  again  for  our  justification.  All 
hail  the  power  of  Jesus’  name!  We  catch  the  echo  and  send  it 
round  the  world.  All  hail,  we  cry,  to  this  dying  but  deathless 
Prince  ! Lift  up  your  heads  O ye  gates  ; and  be  ye  lifted  up, 
ye  everlasting  doors ; and  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in  ! 
Let  every  knee  bow  to  him,  and  every  tongue  confess  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father. 


